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Songs that sound like nothing else


jimmyjazz

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Post some songs that sound like nothing else that came before, or alternatively, post evidence that a previous example is wrong.

I honestly can't think of a rock tune that's much of a precursor to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper".   Iconic guitar riff, crazy lyrics, totally unique band sound.  Am I missing something?

Got another genre-busting tune?

 

 

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Ives did most of the things Stravinsky did before Stravinsky:

 

 

Ornette Coleman's playing around 1:10 always gets me and is sort of a proof of concept of the expressive capabilities of free jazz:

 

There were some pretty hip things happening in the late 14th century. Like things that seem 700+ years too early:

 

Whatever you think of Schoenberg, every composer for a generation either had to copy him or intentionally not copy him. The Nazis labeled it degenerate music, which tells me that he was doing something pretty compelling:

 

 

Edited by Mole
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Ives did most of the things Stravinsky did before Stravinsky:

Good pull.

"(Ives) set about devouring the contemporary cake before anyone else had even found a seat at the table" -Igor Stravinsky

 

This is my personal favorite. It may sound familiar but then he twists it like a pretzel (It's like Sousa on crack):

 

 

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4 hours ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

Almost 30 posts in and no Beatles, Rolling Stones or Elvis...interesting.

I was going to go that direction. Decided to go more obscure.  My first pick was straight up LHB the eyes just as a mic dropper. Then I remembered the LHB came on stage for a ghostland concert. Still one of the most wicked live acts ever. Wish I had been there for that one. 

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3 hours ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

Almost 30 posts in and no Beatles, Rolling Stones or Elvis...interesting.

Because Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Chuck Berry.

I'd listen to the argument that, while heavily influenced, the Beatles and Stones had their own sound.  But Elvis? He was just a good looking white kid doing his best to perform like Berry and sound like Roy Hamilton.

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Just now, TexasHooch said:

Because Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Chuck Berry.

I'd listen to the argument that, while heavily influenced, the Beatles and Stones had their own sound.  But Elvis? He was just a good looking white kid doing his best to perform like Berry and sound like Roy Hamilton.

And that’s true. 

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53 minutes ago, TexasHooch said:

Because Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Chuck Berry.

I'd listen to the argument that, while heavily influenced, the Beatles and Stones had their own sound.  But Elvis? He was just a good looking white kid doing his best to perform like Berry and sound like Roy Hamilton.

First off Johnson, Waters and to a large part Hooker were pure blues guys. Not to mention Jimmyjazz asked for songs “that don’t sound like anything else”. True to their art, they suffered for it. And would only start to capitalize on their talents after the British Invasion. But blues sounded like blues. It pretty much could be identified in four notes.

Ray on the other hand popularized an entirely new sound with the combination of the blues, and gospel. And got shit from the black community for doing that very thing. And used time signatures in ways no musician had ever done up to that point. The guy laid the groundwork for what would come.
 

So far as Elvis. I’m not sure how old you are but that is some serious revisionist history. Not only did Elvis get the very music that Ray developed onto the airwaves, which no one would dare play prior. He got the white community to buy it, and buy a lot of it. The reason? Because the white community had never heard such a sound. Sure, doesn’t sound like much now. But ask anyone who was there the cultural impact Elvis had. We would have eventually got the music on the air, Elvis just short cut the process. Elvis drove rock and roll mainstream. And yeah, he was a good looking guy.

Hey, I dig it if you don’t agree. But, I have been a musician most of my life. It is simply how I remember it.

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10 hours ago, Surly Bevo said:

 

Written one year prior to the Rite of Spring. I’ll direct your attention to about 1:55 in particular. I’m not saying that Stravinsky stole that lick, but it’s the same thing. This will be my last Ives post, but for most of the interesting developments in the first half of the 20th century, Ives probably did it first.


And how about some prepared piano? There were some precedents for the technique, but not much for what John Cage did.

 

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38 minutes ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

First off Johnson, Waters and to a large part Hooker were pure blues guys. Not to mention Jimmyjazz asked for songs “that don’t sound like anything else”. True to their art, they suffered for it. And would only start to capitalize on their talents after the British Invasion. But blues sounded like blues. It pretty much could be identified in four notes.

Ray on the other hand popularized an entirely new sound with the combination of the blues, and gospel. And got shit from the black community for doing that very thing. And used time signatures in ways no musician had ever done up to that point. The guy laid the groundwork for what would come.
 

So far as Elvis. I’m not sure how old you are but that is some serious revisionist history. Not only did Elvis get the very music that Ray developed onto the airwaves, which no one would dare play prior. He got the white community to buy it, and buy a lot of it. The reason? Because the white community had never heard such a sound. Sure, doesn’t sound like much now. But ask anyone who was there the cultural impact Elvis had. We would have eventually got the music on the air, Elvis just short cut the process. Elvis drove rock and roll mainstream. And yeah, he was a good looking guy.

Hey, I dig it if you don’t agree. But, I have been a musician most of my life. It is simply how I remember it.

I didn't argue that the guys I mentioned fit the parameters set by the OP, I only cited them as evidence that the artists you offered (I don't include Ray Charles from your subsequent post) weren't quite as unique as maybe you implied. 

That said, I'm still not going to argue the Beatles and Stones.  As I stipulated, you can hear the Blues (The Stones) and R&B (Beatles) influences in their earlier music, but their sound was their own; And in the case of the Beatles, they evolved significantly over time.  

As for Elvis, Maybe we're just interpreting the OP differently.  Elvis' music wasn't original. Not at all. As you said yourself, Ray was doing it, as was Roy Hamilton. Seriously, listen to a early Roy Hamilton ballad with his phrasing and vibrato and tell me it doesn't sound like Elvis before Elvis.  

Elvis' songs weren't "songs that sound like nothing else".  They were simply songs that sounded exactly like songs that White America hadn't heard yet, coupled with a stage presence that white girls weren't previously allowed to see as sexual.  That's not nothing. I can't imagine the guts it took, and no one can credibly argue against Elvis' cultural impact- I'd go so far as to say that it hasn't been matched before or since.  But I didn't see this as a thread about the cultural impact of rock artists. If it were, The Beatles, Stones, and Elvis would all be in my top 5.

Fun topic.

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I've never heard anything like this.  I guess it kind of cribs from classical composers a bit.

Also

I realize AC/DC was amplifying blues riffs, but no one else before them that I know of had done it so loud, hard, fast, whatever.  Sure, Zeppelin was heavier, but there's always been something really unique to AC/DC's sound to me.  Plus, Bon Scott.  What he was doing as a vocalist was pretty fucking original at the time.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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Yeah, I expected some early rap, but I don't really know much about the artists who broke the genre.  Kurtis Blow?  Sugarhill Gang?
I'm also curious as to the point when jazz broke to bop.  Charlie Parker?


Run DMC, Fat Boys, Kool Moe Dee, LL Cool J, on and on.

NWA really changed it up.

I vividly remember the first time I heard both Smells Like Teen Spirit and Man In The Box. I immediately went and bought both CDs in both cases.

Also:
NIN - Head Like A Hole
Ministry - Thieves
Primus - Jerry Was A Race Car Driver
Metallica - Jump In The Fire
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12 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Yeah, I expected some early rap, but I don't really know much about the artists who broke the genre.  Kurtis Blow?  Sugarhill Gang?

As a white kid from Austin my hip hop knowledge at the time was of Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, License to Ill-era Beasties, the Fat Boys, Kurtis Blow, etc... Rather light-hearted party type acts that weren't extremely deep.

When the guys in military garb showed up, with fucking Flavor Flav, and started rapping about slavery, corruption, institutional racism and revolution... some new (old) shit came to light for me.

 

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2 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

I vividly remember the first time I heard both Smells Like Teen Spirit 

As big a fan as I am of that band and song, I'm not sure it fits.  I guess it does in some sense, but the nod to The Pixies is clear (and Cobain admitted it).

To me, the chord progression always echoed "Godzilla" by (irony) Blue Oyster Cult.  Some people say Boston's "More Than A Feeling", but I think that's a copout.  It's just not the same thing.

 

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This is a little different because the music is a cover, but the presentation is different that anything I'd seen or heard before.  I've seen/heard orchestras play with Metallica, Deep Purple, and others, but it is different with just one instrument - in this case cellos.  There were probably others that did similar things before, but this was my first experience.

 

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the entire Ágætis byrjun album by sigur ros.

 

beethoven 3rd symphony.

 

and while the song itself may not fit the theme of this thread, the performance and the way of articulating it by this mother fucker right here:

 

Edited by sidis
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